Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1887-12-29

An Interesting Account by Michigan
Rnnchman
IRON the Dakota Tribunel
@Oh, yes, 1 was cowboy for four
years." said Mr.. A. b. Thomas, son OF
Paymaster Thomas of the Detroit,
Grand Haven q Milwaukee Railroad.
IL went out there to look around. /
was Just Is, and had great fancy for
Western frontier life. When / reached
northwestern Kansas, between the Sol
ONION and Republican rivers, hap
pened to get on the trail of a herd Of
stock, and was invited to join the herd
ers. / did so, and for three or four
days was the sorest youngster that ever
straddled a horse. You see, they just
live in the saddle, and was tender
foot, or a pork-and-beans pilgrim, as
they called Eastern boys. But soon
learned to handle q revolver like the
rest of them. Everybody carries q re-
volver. One needs to defend himself
from the wiki stock, and also to defend
the stock against wolves. Any wolves
Well, / should say so-both the big
gray wolf and the coyotes, which are
prairie wolves, small but sneaky.
1T isn't always the pleasantest thing
to take hand in with wolf. The
first time, l own up. | was a little
scared. 1t happened this way: l was
with q Cleveland girl-by the way, the
nerviest girl ever saw. She had been
spending some little time at the ranch
and had learned to use a revolver. We
were on the prairie when We saw two
big grays standing in tho trail. Quick
H. I<xhfasnns onA AEnvU hoe r0unl-
yer from her belt and fred The bali
struck Mr.. Wolf i'll the head, killing
him instantly. She was the least bit
frightened, but looked at it in the cool
est way, and said in the most matter
of-fact voice possible: We'll, that was
a good shot, wasn't it?' We got off our
horses, skinned the animal, and took
the hide home for trophy. She has
it now, 1 presume. What became of
the other? Oh, 1 killed him, but /
emptied several barrels and riddled the
skin so it was good for nothing.
II also saw this lady in roundup.
What's that? Well, it's when all the
herders or cowboys get together and
work up to O common center, fencing
in all the wild animals running loose
within certain radius. After they are
all in-perhaps thirty or forty grays,
seventy, eighty or hundred coyotes
then the fun commences, riding to the
center, firing and killing the animals.
The round-ups bring in all the boys
from all sections around, somewhere
from three to four hundred, and you
may believe there is some lively firing.
Well, as L said, this young lady and o
friend of hers joined in one of these
round-ups. They were the only ladies
in the run and were in charge Of the
boys of our ranch. No more respect
could be shown to them if they had
been queens. Every cowboy felt they
were especially in his care, and they were
watched, and yet allowed to shoot to
their hearts content, and they did shoot
in great shape. One came out with
seven gray-wolf scalps and six coyotes,
and the other four grays and ten coy
otes and polecat. There is bounty
on wolf scalps-25 cents for coyotes
and rs cents or 81 for grays-so the
girls did pretty well.
"Who were the girls? Well, L
wouldn't like to give their names.
They are daughters of wealthy Cleve-
land gentlemen, prominent merchants,
and they might object You see, peo-
pie of the North know little of the
cowboys of Kansas. They think they
are a lot of low-lived fellows, always
ready to shoot and scalp somebody.
of boys. Many of them are just from
college. They study themselves ill
and go West to recuperate for health.
They get it, too, for they live in the
saddle, become expert shots, and enter
with zest into all outdoor pursuits
that one here cannot understand. /
hope to go back this fall, see the boys,
and 60 over the old stamping ground.
1 only came back, as the boys say, to
take a slice of high life."